Grace was only in second grade, but was already brilliant in so many ways. She could already read at a whole three grades higher. And she could spell really well, and sing, and she could even play soccer. But most of all, she was good at drawing. 

Her favorite thing to draw was animals, specifically her favorite animal, which would be a cat. Sometimes she could get frustrated because her animals didn’t always come out the way she wanted. But that was ok. She would just turn them into something else.

One day when grace was in art class, her teacher announced that there would be an art competition. There would be three winners in the whole class, and if your art was chosen then you would get an ice cream party.

Grace was over the moon with excitement. She decided right then and there that she would definitely be participating.

As soon as she got home she started thinking of ideas. She wanted to do something that would blow her teacher away, but also something that was different from what she always made. She decided she would make a painting of something.

She had no clue what she was gonna create, so she decided to go on a walk for inspiration. She grabbed her coat and boots, and walked out. The first thing her eyes landed on was the beautiful colors of the leaves laying on the ground. Fall was her favorite season.

And then it hit her. The most perfect idea. She could draw a cat outside near the leaves! She ran inside to get straight to work. 

She ran into her sisters room to grab the supplies, and then went back out to sit at the table. She first started with the big tree. She dipped her paintbrush into the brown paint, making a long branch for the cat to sit on.

She ran into her sisters room to grab the supplies, and then went back out to sit at the table. She first started with the big tree. She dipped her paintbrush into the brown paint, making a long branch for the cat to sit on.

Then, she dipped her paintbrush into the beautiful oranges, and yellows, creating the leaves all around the ground and a couple still on the tree. She made the sky a light blue, with a few clouds. And finally, her favorite part of the painting, she went to make the cat sitting in the tree.

When she was painting it on though, it didn’t look right. The proportions were all off, and she didn’t like the color of the cat. The painting had to be perfect though, so she decided she would just have to start over. Frustrated, she grabbed a new piece of paper.

This time, she decided she would start first with the sky. She painted half the paper a nice light blue, with a few clouds, and then grabbed the brown for the tree. When she was painting the tree though, she made the branch too big. This project was turning out to be way harder than she thought it would. She discarded the paper, and grabbed a new one.